Oklahoma Attorney General Sues Chinese Company For Use of PIrated Software

On Thursday March 13, Oklahoma joined the expanding list of US states that are utilizing their state competition laws to address products sold in their markets that enjoy an unfair competitive advantage by reason of the use in their operations of pirated software. According to the press release of the Oklahoma Attorney General this case is “a lawsuit against a Chinese oil equipment supplier for selling equipment in Oklahoma at artificially low prices, gaining an unfair competitive advantage over lawfully licensed Oklahoma companies in violation of the state’s antitrust laws.” The press release further claims that “Chinese manufacturer Neway Valve Company stole manufacturing process related software that is used by several Oklahoma companies, including longtime oil equipment company, Kimray, then used the pirated technology to sell its competing equipment in Oklahoma at a lower price.” The lawsuit seeks penalties and an injunction against Neway for creating an unfair market and violating Oklahoma’s Antitrust Reform Act and Oklahoma common law. The complaint alleges significant under-licensing of Microsoft software products based on an investigation of the company alleged to be using pirated software, which is being distributed through a Texas subsidiary The Attorney General’s office has posted the complaint on its website.

For some history of these efforts at using state competition laws to address piracy, see my earlier blog from February 2012.

The opinions reflected here are not necessarily the opinions of any organization, company, or government. They solely reflect the personal opinions of Mark Cohen and other named authors. When referring to this blog in the media, please do not attribute any opinion or comment to anyone other than the author(s).